Leaving You
Chapter 1
Mai gently opened the door to the office where she worked. She tried to do it quietly. She was leaving for the day but she didn't want to alert it to the whole world. She hadn't said goodbye, but that didn't matter. Not anymore.
She turned to give Naru's office door one last wistful look. Part of her wanted to say goodbye, but she knew she didn't have the guts. She turned again and left the office.
She hurried through the streets to her apartment.
It wasn't really hers. She didn't own it; she never had and probably never would. Technically, it was Naru's, but she spent more time there than he did. Not really surprising.
It didn't take her long to find a suitcase. She could feel butterflies in her stomach, even though she felt like she shouldn't be nervous. She should be strong and in control. It wasn't like she was doing anything impulsively.
Still, leaving Naru made her feel uneasy. But she'd made up her mind. It wasn't like he loved her anymore. Once, maybe. But things had gotten so much worse that she couldn't stand it any longer.
She didn't even know what time he came home anymore. It was always after she'd gone to bed, and he always left before she woke up. Loneliness hurt. She would have thought she was used to it, after all those years living by herself, but it seemed she wasn't.
She was tired of being alone. She woke up alone. She ate alone. She worked almost alone. She went home alone. She watched movies alone. She went to bed alone. For all she knew, she slept alone too. She hardly ever saw him anymore.
Packing took longer than it should have. She was torn. Half of her wanted it just to be over, and half of her wanted to linger, wait for him to come home, and let him stop her. But she wasn't going to wait half the night to see if he even would come home. She kept glancing out the window, as if she was waiting for him to come back. She shook her head. She would be the strong one here, and leave him, not the other way round. Break his pride.
She opened a drawer. It was full of knick knacks, things she'd kept over the years. Old movie tickets. A keychain. Drawings. Photos. She pulled out a whole bunch of things. Most of them were linked to Naru. Tickets to places she'd been with him. Photos of them together, or even just him. Objects from shops she'd dragged him to. Most of them went in the bin. She wasn't going to keep anything. Things from her childhood she kept. Things linked to Naru went. She picked up a photo of him. She'd taken it herself and was quite proud of it. She liked the way it had turned out, but when she'd shown it to him he'd made some witty remark. Her hands seemed to move of their own accord and the picture fell to the ground in a small shower of paper, like snow. But Naru snow. She frowned. Well, it wasn't like she could piece it back up together again.
She was about to leave when she remembered something.
She wore a necklace around her neck. It'd been a birthday present from Naru. Admittedly, she'd had to practically give him a picture of the thing and the name of the shop, but the point was that he'd bought it for her. It was precious to her, but now she didn't want it. She hesitantly took it off and left it on the dining room table, then left the apartment, locking it behind her.
Back in his office, Naru sighed and leaned back in his chair. Finally, it was all completed, and he could stop spending ridiculous amounts of time in his office. He could go home at a normal time.
Naru didn't hate working, but he loathed paperwork. Especially if it was there because of some stupid reason. But now, all the paperwork was done, and he could enjoy himself again. He glanced at his watch. It was only 9. That was a definite improvement from midnight, which was when he'd been going home for the past week or so. He packed up his things and turned off his office lamp, leaving him in darkness, the only light coming from the lampposts outside. Lin had already left for the day. He hadn't been bombarded with forms to fill and things to set right like Naru had.
He was mildly surprised to find the front door locked. Mai must have gone to bed early. Once inside he kicked off his shoes and turned on a lamp. If Mai was asleep he didn't want to wake her. He spotted the necklace on the table, and went over to it, picking it up and turning it over in his fingers, inspecting it. He recognised it almost instantly as the necklace he'd bought for Mai's birthday. His eyes narrowed.
"Mai?" He called. There was only silence. "Mai?" He called again, but this time it was slightly louder. Frowning, he went into the bedroom.
The bed was empty, made up neatly. He tried the bathroom. Empty. The kitchen. Empty. He tried every room in the apartment. She wasn't there. He pulled out his phone and called her phone, pacing restlessly. When she didn't pick up he swore. There was a sinking feeling in his stomach as he looked at the necklace. She wouldn't leave it lying around, there hadn't been a day since she'd gotten it she hadn't wore it.
He went back into the bedroom and spotted the small pile of paper on the ground. A picture of him, now ripped into little pieces. He opened one of her drawers, just to make sure. It was completely clean and empty, like there never had been any socks in it.
"Mai?" A woman with red hair asked as she took in the sight of her friend towing a suitcase behind her and looking like she was trying not to cry.
"I'm sorry to intrude on you like this, but… I don't have anywhere else to go."
"Why? What happened?"
"I… I left Naru."
"What? Why? Did he hurt you?"
"No, but…"
"But you two have been dating for years!"
"I know…" Mai mumbled, finally giving into sobs. Ayako hugged her reassuringly.
"You can stay with me, I have a spare room." Mai nodded into the other woman's chest. Ayako was still about a head taller.
"Thanks."
"But you have to tell me everything, okay?" Mai nodded again. "Now, come in and I'll make you some hot chocolate."
"So, what happened?" They were sitting in Ayako's kitchen, drinking hot chocolate.
"Well…" Mai paused. Where to begin? "Naru doesn't love me anymore. I hardly ever see him. I don't even know if he still lives in the apartment. He could be two-timing me for all I know."
"Naru wouldn't cheat on you. He has pride, you know."
"Yeah, so he probably thinks it's cool to date more than one girl at once."
Ayako frowned. "I don't think he would do it. When did it start? Has it always been like this?"
"I only really started noticing it about a week ago. That was when he stopped coming home before a reasonable time. I tried to confront him about but he just said it was none of my business. So I decided that I should leave him before he leaves me. He owns the apartment, anyway."
"He could just have work, you know."
"Then why didn't he tell me?"
"I don't know! He's Naru! He can't communicate to save his life!"
"It never was this bad." Mai said, wiping cream off her top lip. "You don't mind me staying here for a while, do you?"
"Nah, it's cool. I'm so going to give you a makeover."
"What time is it?"
"Um… about 10. You look tired, you should go to bed."
Just then Mai's phone rang. She pulled it out and dropped it, still ringing, on the countertop.
"Aren't you going to answer it?" Ayako asked, confused.
"It's Naru."
They waited like statues until the phone stopped ringing. "Ayako, can you do me a favour?"
"Sure."
"Don't tell Naru I'm staying here. Act like you don't know where I am."
"But I'm sure-"
"Please."
She sighed. "Fine. Now off to bed."
Naru opened the door to the office even earlier than usual. He hadn't slept last night. The bed had seemed big and cold and empty without Mai's little sleeping body curled up in it. He fought back a wave of disappointment when he saw it was empty. Some wishful part of him had wanted to find Mai there, some for some innocent reason that she would soon explain to him, and all would be well.
But of course, she wasn't there. Even if she hadn't left him, there was no way she'd be at the office at 6 in the morning. He sat down irritatedly in his chair. At a time like this, he wanted work to keep his mind busy. But he'd completed all the paperwork yesterday. Then he brightened up. Mai would still come to work, right? Then he could see her. He could try and win her back or something. He stifled a yawn as he looked at his watch, even though he knew what the time was.
He was still sitting there when Lin came at half seven.
He was still sitting there when John popped in for a visit.
He was still sitting there when Masako tried to take him out. She succeeded, but he didn't talk at all so she soon gave up.
But there was no sign of Mai whatsoever. John and Lin asked him where she was. To which he replied, "I don't know."
They understood what this meant, and didn't bother him at all. No wonder he was in such a grumpy mood.
Yet later Ayako and Monk turned up, their loud voices cutting through the silence in the office. Only then did he venture out of his office, just to check if Mai had come with her favourite people. They were alone, so the slam resonated through the office for a while afterwards.
He tried her mobile again. Again, she didn't pick up.
"Hi, this is Taniyama Mai. Sorry I can't get to the phone right now, but please leave a message or call back later!" Said a cheerful female voice. He paused as the beep rang out, but didn't say anything. Then he hung up.
"Naru, where's Mai?" Yasuhara popped his head into Naru's office.
"I don't know." He scowled. Yasuhara frowned.
"But you live with her!" He protested. "Is she ill?"
"I don't live with her anymore." He had a headache coming on, and Yasuhara wasn't helping.
Yasuhara left, and Naru could hear him muttering to Ayako and Bou-san that something had happened between Naru and Mai and one of them had left the other. The silence following was welcomed by Naru.
"All lovers have their arguments…" Yasuhara was muttering.
"I know. It must have been really bad for them to split up. If Mai's not living with Naru then where's she staying?"
Ayako bit her lip to avoid speaking.
"It can't be her old flat. She doesn't own it anymore."
Ayako sighed. "I just hope it'll work out…"
I've had this idea in my head for a while now, but we were going to publish it after Morbid had finished (the last chapter is almost completed!) and we have an idea for a new case but the first chapter isn't finished yet. Although I have yet to finish chapter 2, and have instead been occasionally writing random chapters of this story.
Please review!